Everton avoids relegation to keep 70-year streak alive
It took 90 minutes of regulation play and 10 more agonizing minutes of stoppage time, but Everton survived a thrilling Sunday afternoon challenge to defeat Bournemouth by a 1-0 score.
With the win, the club avoids relegation and will remain in the English Premier League for a 70th consecutive season.
A 57th-minute scorcher off the right foot of midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure found the back of the Cherries net to send the crowd at Goodison Park into an uproar that seemingly never stopped over the next 43 minutes of play, save for a collective gasp of fright when Bournemouth nearly beat Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the 95th minute.
England's No. 1 was up to the task, though, stopping the shot and keeping Everton in the lead for good.
The Toffees have been in England's top league since 1954. The only club that has avoided the drop longer is 2023 league runner-up Arsenal, which has played in the top tier since 1920.
Even legendary clubs Manchester United, Chelsea, current league champion Manchester City and Everton arch rival Liverpool have been relegated more recently.
That said, this is now the second straight season where the club has had to fight to the final days of the season to save themselves. Last year, the Toffees didn't officially avoid relegation until the second-to-last game.
Everton manager Sean Dyche was thrilled with the win, but admitted that his club is too big and too talented to be in the situation of having to fight for their lives on the season's final day.
Everton's fortune meant heartbreak for Leeds United and Leicester City, both of whom also went into Sunday's action at risk of falling out of the Premier League. And thanks to Everton's victory, each will now play next season in the second-tier English League Championship.
Leeds fell 4-1 at home to Tottenham, in a game that was never in doubt after a second-minute Spurs goal by Harry Kane sealed United's fate almost immediately.
For its part, Leicester defeated West Ham United 2-1, but needed an Everton loss or tie in order to advance.
It's an especially tough pill to swallow for Leicester, which won the EPL title just seven seasons ago in one of the country's most improbable championship runs in its long and illustrious history.
Now, they will have to work their way up once again, as they did in 2014, the season before they lifted the trophy.
Leicester and Leeds join Southampton as the three clubs who won't be around to face Everton and the rest of the league next season.
They will be replaced in the EPL by Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town, who won a playoff over Coventry City on Saturday to punch their ticket for the first time since 1996.
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